According to The Hill, journalists who publish leaked information they did not solicit are usually not prosecuted, but the laws are murkier if the journalist is found to be involved in the actual leak.

Last year, the New York Times published then-candidate Trump's tax returns from 1995.

That release resulted in a controversy over some of the losses Trump declared against his return, which may have resulted in legal non-payment of more than a decade's worth of future tax liabilities.

Kristof, 57, is the paper's world affairs reporter and a regular columnist.